More obscure languages like [[Khuzdul]], [[Black Speech]], "[[Adunaic]] tongues" and more obscure ones ([[Westron]], [[Mannish]], [[Entish]], "[[Valinorean]]") are also briefly discussed. Their sources are primarily information as given in the [[The Lord of the Rings Appendices|Appendices]].

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More obscure languages like [[Khuzdul]], [[Black Speech]], "[[Adûnaic]] tongues" and more obscure ones ([[Westron]], [[Mannish]], [[Entish]], "[[Valinorean]]") are also briefly discussed. Their sources are primarily information as given in the [[The Lord of the Rings Appendices|Appendices]].

===Personal names===

===Personal names===

Revision as of 07:45, 16 June 2010

An Introduction to Elvish and to Other Tongues, Proper Names and Writing Systems of the Third Age of the Western Lands of Middle-Earth as Set Forth in the Published Writings of Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was a book by Jim Allan that discussed the languages of Middle-earth.

Contents

Structure

Eldarin tongues

The first articles offer analyses of the Elvish texts published. Extrapolation of a sketchy grammar is offered based on the available data, as well as meaning of the names found in the books.

There is also a chapter that goes on to discuss the relationship of Quenya and Sindarin and analyze a possible Proto-Eldarin; the Etymologies and other works where Tolkien clearly discusses Primitive Quendian and roots were not published until 10 years later.

These chapters are followed by glossaries pointing at possible real-word similarities.

An article written from Tolkien's secondary world perspective, explains how Elvish possibly influenced the Indo-European languages.

There is also a "Baby-book" with all the known real-world ("translated") Hobbit names by category and gender, along with their etymologies.

Writing systems

An extensive section with analyses of the Tengwar and Cirth in which aims to be more clear and readable presentation of the information of Appendix E, followed by theoretical and structural background, with a possible history of their evolution through time.

Examples of English-tengwar texts used by fans are given, with analyses and commentaries.

The book was complete in 1977 but publication was halted for a year. The Silmarillion was published in the meantime which included new material that (in few points) obsoleted the theories of the book. A year later, and while the book was still in a hiatus, Jim Allan wrote about those points in the postscript of his Foreword; he points out that updating the text by incorporating the new information would not be possible, and encourages critical comparison by the reader.

Since 1977, a great amount of material was published in the History of Middle-earth series, not to mention magazines such as Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon; while the fans consent that the book is one of the best and more serious works[1], new material renders the theories incomplete or outdated. In reality some of its parts, like the one concerning real-world names and the writing systems, still provide useful information.